I think the deal was that (a pretty large collection of) certain select mutants were gifted free BB subscriptions, all others must pay. But I’m honestly fuzzy on details and at this point can’t be bothered to suss them out.
27 Likes
There’s an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine where everyone is stuck on the night shift and hates it, and so the captain tries what he can think of to make it fun. (It’s where the meme “why is no one having a good time? I specifically requested it” comes from.) It does nothing for morale. What does is when he gives up and admits it sucks and he hates it too, and then they can at least feel he has their interests in mind.
I feel like if BB had posted that they’re sorry, they simply can’t afford to keep the bbs going and Substack looks like their only option…people still would have disliked it, people would still have refused to work with it. But I bet you they’d have had a better response and good will than with this “great news, we’re killing the place you loved so you can live in the awesome tar pits”. The idea that people should hype up bad changes like we’re all toddlers is dead wrong.
36 Likes
100 of the most active contributors to the BBS were given free lifetime premium sus memberships.
Shame the building’s fulla nazis and there’s nothing even remotely resembling our old BBS. 
This place, tho!!! 
21 Likes
The first time I remember feeling like I was 90 yrs old, I was actually abt 4, and an adult was lying to me, and fuck if I didn’t bloody well know it. I just gave them an old woman’s dirty look (which must have been interesting), and then sighed with emotional and spiritual exhaustion.
15 Likes
I figured I’d poke around the Substack thing for a day or two before weighing in on the move.
I have reached a personal verdict.
31 Likes
Thanks so much, both for thinking of me in the first place and then not vetoing my invite (I know there’s at least a couple folks here I’ve pissed off a time or two!). I’m keeping the same name and picture I had over on BoingBoing so people can recognize me, though I may eventually change the latter.
It’s a huge relief to see so many familiar names here. I honestly got a lot more out of your BBS contributions than I did the articles- not to sell BB’s authors short, but the site’s contributions seemed to grow more and more clickbaity, hypocritical and out-of-touch over the years, and I found the comments sections much more enlightening and informative, both from peoples’ opinions and the additional images and links they provided. After a certain point the articles felt like little more than suggestions to spark new conversations, and sometimes I would only read the headline before jumping right into the BBS.
I’m trying not to think poorly of the site’s administrators, considering all they’ve given us over the years and the difficult choices they’re facing, but the idea that they’d so readily take the site’s best feature and dump it in the trash without a second thought just baffles me. Even if Substack weren’t a Nazi bar, the setup there, lacking even the most basic features we take for granted, was pretty much guaranteed to kill the community that we’ve all grown to love, and they must surely have known that going in. Part of me feels like they’re going to come to regret jettisoning their robust community, but another part of me wonders if they ever even looked down and noticed it was there to begin with.
Maybe I’m wrong- maybe this was a great business move and they’re going to get tons of new traffic to replace us, and they’re going to love their new publishing tools and never look back with regret. Maybe the vast majority of people love that BB is coming to Substack and us BBS folks are the weird ones. I’ve largely given up on trying to understand my fellow humans as the world has rapidly descended into madness over the past couple decades. All I know is I’m glad to have caught the lifeboat to this new place, and I’m grateful we’ll be facing whatever the future holds together.
29 Likes
These last few years, my first thought when a site tells me that I need to sign up is “no, I don’t.”
My first impression of BB/Sus is not good, but I guess I’ll keep one wary eye on them, looking for a miracle.
Lately I’ve been feeling a need to change up my routines a bit, so maybe this is a start.
I’ll still be here everyday, though, even when I have nothing to say.
25 Likes
I don’t think jlw cares.
15 Likes
Hard to believe there were at least 100 ahead of me, as well as the other familiar faces newly arrived here.
Even that move (free stuff to bring in the elites, hope the groundlings follow with the $$$) seems calculated to divide the community
18 Likes
He’s vehemently said otherwise in the past. However…
I asked my Grandma one day, “You’re 80-something. You must have learned a lot over all that time. What bit of wisdom would you like to give me?” She thought about it, really thought about it for a minute.
“People are nuts,” she said. “You never know what they’re thinking, and you never know what crazy shit they’ll do next.”
24 Likes
I’m very pleased to see you’re here, dawling.
15 Likes
Honestly, this made it much less likely I’d have considered moving to the new platform (Nazi-bar notwithstanding). Don’t patronize me. It is a negative change, don’t try and sell it as a positive.
25 Likes
Just want to say I’m surprised how happy I am to see the list of posters in this thread. I’ll have some reading to do to get acquainted but feeling optimistic. Thanks to all
33 Likes
So very glad you made it!
17 Likes
I don’t think activity was the primary sort criteria. My typical experience of the BBS the last couple years was read some threads, like a few posts, and maybe provide a link to something witty I saw somewhere else on the internet.
12 Likes
OK. I was just going by what I remembered what was said.
7 Likes
Honestly the whole thing has been such a whirlwind, Ken might’ve picked the names out of chicken wings and tea leaves for all I know.
9 Likes
tell me you aren’t a ceo for a fortune 500 company without saying those words.
24 Likes
it seemed to me that there was a rationale to the invite list. thinking about who didn’t make the list in the context of the ones who did. i think there was a pattern.
maybe tptb told ken “we need some highly engaged non-nazis to come on over and help defend against the nazis, ya’ got anybody like that?” and this is what he came up with. 
23 Likes
Foolproof business plan:
- Start an online forum.
- ???
- There is no step 3.
26 Likes